Architecture in the genes

With so many family members in the business, it was almost inevitable that Sarah Murray would choose the profession

Foyer of the Irish ambassador's residence on Park Road. Renovations to the home were handled by architect Sarah Murray. The $6-million renovation to the Irish ambassador's Rockcliffe Park residence included a loggia, or gallery, that links two new wings with a wall of glass to showcase the outdoors.

Photograph by: Chris Mikula
, Ottawa Citizen

Murray, a partner with husband Nicholas Caragianis at Nicholas Caragianis Architect Inc., peppers her conversation with such nuggets. She clearly not only practises architecture, but thinks about her profession, one that appeals to her because of its intrinsic optimism: "You're surrounded by people who believe in the future and want to make the world a better place."

She's contributed to that betterment with a range of projects that lean to the traditional: attractive low-rise condos in both new and established areas of town; a home in Ottawa's tony Rockliffe Park neighbourhood that, once completed, will have a New England look and, she promises, will appear to have always been where it is; a major renovation that's transfigured the Irish ambassador's residence into an award-winning, 12,000-square-foot space whose elegant presence suggests it has no plans to vanish anytime soon.

Even if weren't for the optimism factor, Murray was probably genetically programmed to become an architect.

Her father, two uncles and a brother are all in the profession. That's reinforced on her husband's side, where a grandfather, parents and an uncle have plied the same trade. "It's like a compulsion in our family. Someone's always building something."

Heck, even the family dogs seem to have the designing bug: Jato, a Hungarian vizsla, and Sweeper, a Rhodesian ridgeback, are regulars at the architectural office, a former contractor's warehouse in Little Italy.

With architects ubiquitous in the Murray family, it's not surprising that one of her projects is an addition to a building her father's former firm (Murray, Murray, Griffiths and Rankin) created some three decades ago.

The Gillin Residence Phase II, completed in 2007, is an 8,500-square-foot brick addition to the original boarding house at Ashbury College in Rockliffe Park. With its distinctive tower mirroring the existing one, the new building features bay windows where students can read a book and gaze out over the grounds.

There's also a new entrance: "I wanted an entranceway facing the playing fields so the girls have a nice sense of entering the building," Murray says.

Once inside, they are in a space that blends the private and public or shared elements that distinguish any residence, whether a boarding house or a personal home. That blend is one that excites Murray.

Noting the North American evolution toward open-concept homes and the omnipresence of high-tech devices, she says we live in a time when the family is often together in one large space even if each member is doing his or her own thing — one texting and another listening to an MP3 player, for example.

"We're herd animals, so we want to be with the herd but not necessarily interacting. It's like at Starbucks where everyone is gathered together but working on their own laptops.

"So when you put a shared space into a home, an open-concept kitchen and family room and dining room, you are connecting people. I think that's important."

Referring to the notes she's made before our interview (being prepared is important to Murray), she adds that we humans are both physically and emotionally connected to our architecture.

"I used to think of architecture as a luxury, but now I think it's essential for a good, healthy environment."

Murray almost didn't become an architect. She initially studied science at the University of Guelph, thinking she might even become an organic farmer. However, genetics and optimism prevailed, and she swung her attention to Carleton University's architecture program, graduating in 1987.

Keen to promote the presence of women in architecture — her firm has six female architects or architectural interns and three male — Murray notes that back in her day female architecture students were a rarity. That's changing, she says, a statement borne out by the Ontario Association of Architects, which reports a total of 31 new female architects registered from 1970 to 1979 while in 2010 alone 35 new females joined the profession. Of the roughly 3,000 architects now practising in Ontario, 583 are female.

After graduating, Murray worked on urban planning and other projects in Montreal and Ottawa before founding the current firm with Caragianis in 1993. The couple has three children.

Her husband tends to work on out-of-town commercial projects while she focuses on residential gigs (in Ottawa, he jokes, "I get called Mr. Murray").

It works well, she says. "He does his stuff and I do mine. The staff just keep their heads down when the bullets do start flying."

Murray's projects include The Station, a 46-unit condo being developed by Campanale Homes at its Longfields Station site in the Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven, and a low-rise condo for the same company on Bank Street in Old Ottawa South.

You could drive by the latter, which includes some ground-floor commercial space, without giving it a second thought, which is exactly what its designers and the developer wanted.

"It's only four years old, but it looks like it's been there forever," says Vince Campanale, the company's vice-president, who stresses the role also played by his company's in-house design team. "The building really conforms well with the area. When you can accomplish something like that, you've done something remarkable.

"Sarah is very nice to work with. She'll give you her opinion, but she also listens to what you want."

Her big project has been the $6-million renovation of the Irish ambassador's residence in Rockcliffe Park, which last year won an award from the City of Ottawa for infill and restoration of a heritage property.

"It was a beautiful old house that hadn't taken advantage of the site."

In addition to important improvements, like the removal of asbestos and replacement of dated insulation, the renovation saw the demolition and rebuilding of the home's east and west wings.

Murray also ushered in natural light by reglazing the vestibule and constructing a loggia, or gallery, that links the new wings and serves as a viewing area for the artwork along one of its walls and the drama of the changing seasons through its other, glassed wall.

"One of my goals was to connect (the home) more to the outside. One of my design philosophies is to connect with nature, to bring in lots of natural light."

When it comes to Ottawa itself, Murray says it's a "beautiful city" where we are constantly reminded of nature, but that we should take more risks with urban planning and architecture — think of the bold addition to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, she says. "How fun is that!"

We could also connect more with our rivers: "Where are the places to sit and have a cappuccino?

"Everybody should be shaping our environment," she says. "We should all be participating in this city."

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Foyer of the Irish ambassador's residence on Park Road. Renovations to the home were handled by architect Sarah Murray. The $6-million renovation to the Irish ambassador's Rockcliffe Park residence included a loggia, or gallery, that links two new wings with a wall of glass to showcase the outdoors.

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